1. Chapter 1 – An Invitation to Sociology
Section 1 – The Sociological Perspective
Section 2 – The Origins of Sociology
Section 3 – Theoretical Perspectives

2. Section 1 – The Sociological Perspective
Objectives
1- Students will be able to define sociology
2 – Students will describe two uses of the sociological perspective
3 – Distinguish sociology from other social sciences

3. The Nature of Sociology
A perspective is a particular point of view
We normally do not realize how much of our attitudes and beliefs are determined by our perspectives.
Sociology has its own perspective and to understand it you must understand what sociology is.

4. What is sociology?
Scientific study of social structure

5. What is unique about sociology?
The sociological perspective never focuses on the individual
Sociologists view people at the social or group level.
Sociologists focus on the patterns of behavior shared my members of a group or a society.

6. The Social Sciences Sociology - Anthropology –
Investigates human social behavior from a group rather than an individual perspective. It concentrates on patterns of social relationships, primarily in modern societies.
Anthropology –
Investigates the culture, the customary beliefs and material traits of groups. Concentrates on the study of preliterate societies (societies that do not use writing)

7. The Social Sciences Psychology – Economics – Political Science –
Investigates human mental and emotional processes.
Economics –
The study of the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services.
Political Science –
Investigates the organization, administration, history and theory of government.
History –
Examines past events in human societies.

8. The Importance of Patterns
Social Structure – the patterned interaction of people in social relationships.

9. Acquiring the Sociological Imagination
The sociological perspective enables us to develop a sociological imagination.
Knowing how social forces affect our lives can prevent us from being prisoners of those forces.
C. Wright Mills called this personal use of sociology the sociological imagination – the ability of individuals to see the relationship between events in their personal lives and events in their society

10. Section 2 – The Origins of Sociology
Objectives:
1 – Students will outline the contributions of the major pioneers of sociology

11. European Origins Sociology is a relatively new science.
Began in late 19th century Europe.
The social and economic effects of the Industrial Revolution and French Revolution fascinated and troubled some big thinkers of the time.

12. What were Auguste Comte’s major ideas?
Frenchman who is recognized as the father of sociology.
As an adult, his main concern was the improvement of society.
If societies were to advance, he believed social behavior would have to be studied scientifically.
He coined the term sociology to describe this science.
Wanted to use scientific observation to study social behavior and called this positivism.
Meant that sociology should be a science based knowledge of which can be positive, or for sure.
Also distinguished between social statics, which is the study of social stability and order, and social dynamics, which is the study of social change.

13. What were Harriet Martineau’s contributions?
An Englishwoman who was also important to the founding of sociology.
Best known for her translation of Comte’s great book, Positive Philosophy.
Also made original contributions in the areas of research methods, political economy, and feminist theory.
She was a pioneering feminist.

14. Why did Herbert Spencer oppose social reform?
Was an Englishman whose career became a mixture of engineering, drafting, inventing, journalism and writing.
To explain social stability, he compared society to the human body.
Also introduced a theory of social change called Social Darwinism.
Based on Charles Darwins’ Theory of Evolution
Believed that evolutionary change led to progress if people did not interfere.
If left alone, natural selection would ensure the survival of the fittest society.
On these grounds, he opposed social reform because it interfered with the selection process.

15. Who was Karl Marx?
A German scholar who did not consider himself a sociologist, but his ideas have had a major effect on the field.
Marx identified several social classes in 19th century industrial society.
Among them were farmers, servants, factory workers, craftspeople, owners of small business and moneyed capitalists.
He predicted that at some point all industrial societies would have only two social classes:
The bourgeoisie – are those who own the means of production. (aka capitalists)
The proletariat – work for the bourgeoisie and are paid just enough to stay alive.
For Marx, the key to unfolding history was class conflict – a clash between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.

16. What were Emile Durkheim’s greatest contributions?
Son of a French Rabbi
According to Durkheim, society exists because of broad consensus, or agreement, among members of a society.
In pre-industrial times, society was based on mechanical solidarity – social dependency based on widespread consensus of values and beliefs, enforced conformity, and dependence on tradition and family.
Industrial societies are based on organic solidarity – social interdependency based on a high degree of specialization in roles.
He first introduced the use of statistical techniques in his groundbreaking research on suicide.

17. Who was Max Weber?
Son of a German lawyer and politician, mother was a devout Calvinist
Conflicting values of his parents led to his eventual mental breakdown.
Afterwards, as a University Professor, Weber wrote on a wide variety of topics, including the nature of power, religions of the world, social classes, and bureaucracies.
Weber said human beings act on the basis of their own understanding of a situation.
Thus, sociologists must discover the personal meanings, values, beliefs and attitudes underlying human social behavior.
Believed that understanding the personal intentions of people in groups can be best accomplished through the method of verstehen- understanding the social behavior of bothers by putting yourself mentally in their places.
Also identified rationalization as a key influence in the change from pre-industrial to an industrial society by emphasizing knowledge, reason and planning.

18. Why should we remember Jane Adams?
The best known of the early women social reformers in the US.
Addams focused on the problems caused by the imbalance of power among the social classes.
Active in the woman suffrage and peace movements.

19. What were the contributions of W.E.B. DuBois?
An African American educator and social activist
Learned firsthand about racial segregation and discrimination when he attended Fisk University in Tennessee.
Also active in the Pan African movement.

20. Section 3 – Theoretical Perspectives
Objective:
Identify the three major theoretical perspectives in sociology today.

21. What is theoretical perspective?
A theoretical perspective is a set of assumptions about an area of study.
It is viewed as true by their supporters and helps organize their research.
Sociology has three overarching theoretical perspectives:
Functionalism
Conflict Theory
Symbolic Interactionism

22. Functionalism
Emphasizes the contributions (functions) of each part of a society
Ex: family, economy, and religion are “parts” of a society.
Family contributes to society by providing for the reproduction and care of its members.

23. How does functionalism explain social change?
Functionalists see the parts of a society as an integrated who.
A change in one part of a society leads to changes in other parts.
Functionalism assumes that societies tend to return to a state of stability after some upheaval has occurred.

24. Do all functions have a positive effect?
A function is a contribution made by some part of a society
According to Robert Merton, there are two kinds of functions:
Manifest functions are intended and recognized
Latent functions are unintended and unrecognized
Ex: a manifest function of school is to teach math skills, a latent function is to build close friendships
Not all elements in society make a positive contribution.
Elements that have negative consequences result in dysfunction

25. Conflict Perspective:
The conflict perspective emphasizes conflict, competition, change, and constraint within society

26. What is the role of conflict and constraint?
Focuses on disagreements among various groups in a society or between societies.
Groups and societies compete as they attempt to preserve and promote their own special values and interests.
Supporters of this theory see social living as a contest.
The central question is “Who gets what”
It is those with the most power – the ability to control the behavior of others – who get the largest share of whatever is considered valuable in society
Those with the most power have the most wealth, prestige and privileges.

27. How does the conflict perspective explain social change?
Many conflicting groups exist in society.
As the balance of power among these groups shift, change occurs.

28. Which perspective is better?
There is no better theoretical perspective.
Each highlights certain areas of social life
The advantage of one are disadvantages to another.

29. What is the significance of symbols in symbolic interactionism?
A symbol is something chosen to represent something else.
It may be an object, word, a gesture, a facial expression, or a sound.
The meaning of a symbol is not determined by its own physical characteristics. Those who create and use the symbols assign the meanings to them.
If people in a group do not share the same meanings then confusion happens.
The importance of shared symbols is reflected in the formal definition of symbolic interactionism – the theoretical perspective that focuses on interaction among people.

30. What are the basic assumptions of symbolic interactionism?
Herbert Bloomer coined the term symbolic interactionsim.
Outlined three assumptions to his perspective
First, according to this theory, we learn the meaning of a symbol from the way we see others reacting to it.
Second, once we learn the meanings of symbols, we base our behavior on them
Third, we use the meanings of symbols to imagine how others will respond to our behavior.
Erving Goffman introduced dramaturgy which depicts human interaction as theatrical performance.